Zachary Roth points to this interview on Pro-Publica where McCain adviser Ronald Michaelson struggles to name a single instance of voter fraud even though his candidate has spent the past few weeks making his supporters believe that the “fabric of democracy” in America is threatened by fraudulent registrations:
“Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can’t cite one, chapter and verse.”
When it comes to naming states where illegal actions have been taken that may block eligible voters in advance of this election, one doesn’t need “chapter and verse” but merely a list: Michigan and Colorado, which have been purging within 90 days of the election, and Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio, where states have been using the deeply flawed Social Security Database to register voters [TO REGISTER VOTERS? IS THAT BAD? AND WHY DO YOU LIST STATES THEN SAY “WHERE STATES”, SHOULD THAT BE ANOTHER WORD?]. In large part, voter suppression activities have failed this year because of a well organized campaign launched by voting rights groups.
But Republicans have spent the past few months trying to scare people about a problem they can’t even prove exists.
–A. Serwer
